Missing Malaysian airliner: oil slicks spotted

Malaysian Airlines` Boeing 777-200 goes missing on way to Beijing. Two large oil slicks spotted over South China Sea may be clue to aircraft disappearance

SHANGHAI – Search efforts are intensifying for a Malaysian Airlines flight which lost contact while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

Vietnamese air force planes spotted two large oil slicks over the South China Sea. The two oil slicks, around 15 to 20 kilometres long, are believed to be a clue to the disappearance of the aircraft.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft departed from Kuala Lumpur at 16.40 GMT with a total of 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board.

Malaysian Airlines revealed that air traffic controllers lost contact with flight MH370 at 02:40 local time (18:40 GMT on Friday).

A list of passengers released by the airline identifies 14 different nationalities on board: Chinese and Taiwanese (154), Malaysian (38), Indonesian (7), Australian (6), Indian (5), American (4), French (3), Ukrainian (2), New Zealand native (2), Canadian (2), Italian (1), Russian (1), Dutch (1) and Austrian (1). However, later it was revealed that the Italian and Austrian did not board the flight.

According to a Vietnamese government website, the plane`s last known location was the Ca Mau peninsula, south of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, relatives of Flight MH370 passengers are enduring a tense wait at Beijing Capital International Airport, an Anadolu Agency correspondent at the scene reported.